“Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”

We apologize for the lack of entries the past few days as our team has been very busy, rising early in the morning and going until late in the evening.

Thursday was a day filled with activity. The painting crew continued painting while others went to work on preparation for the fiesta that afternoon. The construction team started laying block for a bathroom in a nearby village. A teachers’ conference was also held that morning and Friday morning where 60 teachers from surrounding villages attended. The topic was Differentiated Instruction. It was a wonderful opportunity to provide encouragement and instruction to these women. The fiesta was filled with hundreds of children and adults. They just kept coming and coming! Songs were sung, the Word was given and then the children dispersed to different tents with balloon making, face painting and games. It was a great time!

Friday morning consisted of the teacher’s conference, painting, final completion of the roof and preparation for the concert in Nizao that afternoon. The concert was an amazing time of worship and praise. The whole town of Nizao was invited and the concert was heard through a huge sound system we rented all throughout the city. This was probably the most memorable night where our Dominican family and we Americans were worshipping together in Spanish and in English. It was a taste of heaven! Words cannot describe this!

Saturday was a very special ending to our week. We traveled into San Jose, a village very close to our hearts, to deliver food, clothing and shoes. Afterwards we went to the beach with our Dominican family and spent some great time there and made many memories. Our goodbye was a hard one. It took an hour to say goodbye. These people are our true family and we love them so much! We cannot wait until we see them again.

Our day ended with a very special time of reminiscing of the week and sharing stories with one another as a team. We cried, we laughed and we prayed. We have become a family here and have shared experiences we will never forget! We look forward to seeing our families but it will be a hard goodbye. God has blessed us with an incredible experience to come and serve Him here in the Dominican! Thank you for your prayers!